Toofy Ch. 23

"This is my home. My web." The arachne replied with a shrug, "Every thread is the end of warp, it is my woof drawn through them. The world lies in knots before us, and I maintain it."

Trician swallowed nervously, "You feel like a goddess."

"Maybe I am. Maybe the gods don't really exist. Projected by the weave, as it rearranges itself." The arachne shrugged, "But I've confused you enough. Your time is ending. It is time you returned."

The elf winced, "My time... Does Orli really have to die?"

The fangs clacked again, sending shivers down her spine, and the arachne plucked at the music. They frowned, and then turned one of their eyes towards her, "You're an odd one, Trician. I suppose that's what happens when you worship chaos. It finds you. You already know that you and she are doomed. So why ask?"

"I've been wrong before." She shrugged, "Do I die in all worlds? Or do I always head towards this one moment. The siege of this city, with Orli by my side?"

"This would always have happened. It shouldn't, but it did." The woman said with regret.

Trician sighed peacefully, "Had to ask. Now how do I go back to her?"

"You never left her. Just... Close your eyes." The spiderwoman replied with a voice that filled the elf with a deep calmness. An alluring charm that she... Couldn't quite resist.

Trician's eyes slowly closed, all on their own.

Her ears filled with a loud buzzing, before slowly fading back in to the roar of the battle. She could feel her spells, still. None of them had collapsed in whatever the hell she had just experienced.

Trician opened her eyes tiredly. Orli still clung to her arm, still driving that force of magic, but it was no longer feeling insurmountable. It felt comfortable, as if it belonged in her hands.

The elf felt exhausted, but she was no longer struggling to maintain any of it. She stripped apart the magical attacks as they flew towards them, turning them into repairs for her barriers against the physical.

Orli wavered, her knees weakening. The girl might be astonishing, but everyone always has their limits.

The moment was approaching.

Their end.

A concussive boom rolled across the battlefield, and Trician caught the woman as she went to fall. Looking down into those blue eyes, she couldn't help herself. Planting a soft and quick kiss to her lips, before righting her and turning back to the war.

Orli stared, "Astadia's done it. The gate is down."

"Then the easy part is over." Trician said stiffly, "Now... Now the fight for the city begins."

"This was the easy part?" Orli squeaked.

Trician gave a grim laugh, "Now... Now we're in their homes, threatening their wives, their husbands, their children. We won't just be fighting guards once we step through those gates. Everyone hates war. Because everyone dies."

"Oh."

The elf squeezed her arm, "Sorry. There's no real way to sugarcoat it."

"We just sent an army of undead and dragons into peoples homes." Orli said with pain, "I... I guess that cities are made of homes. This is the cost of... All of this. I hate it. If there was another way..."

Trician smiled and kissed the top of her head, "Why do you think the damn cat went first? She's trying to negotiate peace. My sister was just too spiteful to give her the time, so we're forced to follow through."

"Then we buy Toofy the time." Orli nodded, trying to harden herself.

The elf smiled and squeezed her, "Exactly. We're not pushing through this as hard and fast as we can. Who cares if a few undead die again, just because we're taking our time?"

"I love you." Orli whispered.

---

"Done be fuckin' ya." Tammy's orange eyes flashed as she glared at the man she now hated. He might be her mate, but she had no intention of ever letting him inside her again. Not after what he had done.

Sai held out the smooth green stone again, "Can you destroy it, or not?"

"Done be hatin' ya." She snarled.

He grabbed her chin, "I'm trying to be patient, because I know that I'm your mate, kitsune... But you killed my fucking clan. My mistress. The people I grew up with. I was raised by orcs. To try and hurt my wife. Don't. Push. Me."

Tammy burst into tears and yanked her head away, "Gimme da fuckin' stone."

He thrust it into her hand and she held it up, glaring at it through the blur of her tears. She turned the demonic artefact over slowly, and growled, "No a fuckin' flaw. Dis be perfect. Gods above... What kind a fucker managed ta makin' dis? Breakin' it ain't bein' easy."

"No shit."

She winced at the anger in his voice, at the hatred she heard there. He really did despise her. She might be hurt by him, even traumatised by the fact she'd seen him spill his seed into her goddess, but she didn't hate him. Couldn't.

Tammy held the sphere aloft, gather flecks of light beneath it and lifting it into the air. "Tis perfect. Ain't be breakin' perfect les' ya can breakin' anyt'ing. I dunno da spell, but I know what one be workin'."

"Disenchantment." Sai replied quietly and took the sphere back, "Kaden's fucking spell. Well... His and Westcolm's. It wasn't our great emperor who came up with it, he just perfected it. Oh, shit. I don't know it, nor do I know anyone who does... Except... The goddess said Toofy used it. Freed all the slaves."

The woman who had brought it, hugged the cloak that Sai had put around her naked shoulders, "I think... I think m'lady is dead. That bringing this to you was the last act she could do. Was it really in vain, sir?"

"Orli." Sai said stiffly, "If we can't find the spell, we can inflame a weaker one. Orli has access to... I don't know if she even has a limit to her magic. That burning irritation you can feel, at the edge of your vision? That's her. Channelling so much magic it can't be ignored."

Tammy curled one of her tails around and hugged it, barely resisting from biting through the fluffy and onto herself. She glared at her mate, "So, dat be ya plan? Running da sphere t'rou emperor bas'ard's backyard 'n be hopin' she still be alive when ya gettin' der?"

"Not me." He turned and looked at the ones that Tammy had healed. "This one is on you Esmerelda. An opportunity to prove you and Taudry deserve to live under Toofy's protection. Get the piece to Orli, and have it destroyed. If you don't... Kaden will be turning me inside out. And hanging me by my own intestines... If I'm lucky. That man is... Spiteful."

"We'll do it." Taudry launched to her feet and snatched the small sphere, looking frightened and determined. "It will be done."

Sai nodded and glared back at Tammy, "And now... You and I have a palace to infiltrate."

"I pissin' on ya grave." She snarled at him, "Ya know dat, right? I goin' ta outlive ya, human. And I will be piss all over it and nada t'ing ever be growin' der."

He shrugged, "My father would have hung my skull from his tent and let the birds pick it clean. Either way is fine with me. Now, do I have to remind you that you murdered everyone I knew, or will you do as you were told?"

The kitsune rolled her eyes, but signalled for him to follow her.

She crawled through the tunnel and out into the garden. Stretching her back tiredly before skipping over and sniffing at some poisonous purple flowers.

Half the garden, as far as she could tell, was poisonous. Whoever planted this had a serious hard-on for all things death. Must have had someone they urgently wanted to kill. 'Course they did. They were connected with the neko.

"Tammy."

She glared at him, "What?"

"I hate you." Sai replied and smiled stiffly, "Everything about you. I told you, that Toofy is my everything. And you killed my family to hurt her. So... When are you planning on ending me? Once you've fulfilled the letter of your goddess' request to guide me into the palace?"

"Nah need." She turned up her nose, "Ya kill emper'r, ya gots da die. Da gods will be demandin' it."

Sai nodded slowly, "Why do you sound regretful?"

"Fuck ya! Fuck ya wit' an iron poker 'n a whole fuckin' swarm o' ants!" She screeched at him for managing to understand her emotions. The bastard was better at reading her than any human ever had been, and she hated it. She didn't want his sympathy, right now.

She wanted to be able to hate him.

This is why she'd wanted to steal him from the cat. Not just to break her heart, but because he really was the best of humanity. She'd murdered an entire race of people, giggling about it, and he was asking if she was coping with her regret.

She'd give her left tail to take it back.

She hadn't changed, not really. The lives of other people still didn't matter a shit to her. She didn't regret killing Khild or any of the others. She was too old to think of them as anything but scurrying little insects all around her.

However, she did regret hurting Sai and the goddess. She regretted making the cat her target. She felt guilty about tracking down Sai to begin with, just to mess with the plans of her goddess.

Those orange eyes, staring at her with hate.

"I still hate you. I also pity you." Sai said tiredly, as they left the estate and began walking along the road. In the distance she could see soldiers trying to barricade it.

Smoke fell like smog all around them, coating the entire city in a thick blanket of haze. Sai tied a handkerchief over his mouth, not perturbed by the sudden outbreak of war all around them. His eyes were as cold and focused as they ever were.

"Don't." She snarled, "Don't be pityin' ma. Ya may as well be pissin' on ma."

He shrugged, saying nothing.

---

"Mia should be talking to the others. They're breaking Toofy's city." The catgirl complained, looking at the salamander who was determined not to leave her side. It wasn't like a bunch of politicians was something that Toofy actually feared.

She had, once. There had been Han and there had been Westcolm. Push come to shove, Vanhern could become a physical threat to her health. However, none of them would be stupid enough to lay a hand on her whilst her army overran their city.

She'd heard the gates fall, they all had.

So now, for the first time in recorded history, a neko stood before the Council of Ministers, not as a victim or accused of some heinous crime, but finally as an equal. She was here to speak, and they were here to listen.

An exotic, standing among humans, as one who was equal to all of them. This moment would be remembered, whether she fucked it up or not. She was standing here, and that was all that mattered. History had changed, in this moment.

The salamander puffed black smoke, "Not leave. Not leave."

Toofy rolled her red eyes and pointed to the corner of the room, "Then go stand over there. She has some business to discuss. And doesn't need dragongirl making everyone shit themselves."

White smoke emerged from Meerakeilian's mouth as she grinned and walked over slowly and deliberately. Dragging her heavy tail and leaving a trail of destruction as she broke the tiles on her way.

The catgirl smiled at the men in their suits, and sat down in front of them, crossing her legs slowly. She looked at them pointedly, and waved. As if granting them permission to sit.

One of the ministers glared at her, "We agreed to hear your petition, not to grant it, cat."

"Lady Twenty Four de Sai." She replied, eyes glittering, "Introductions are a wise idea, she thinks. So she will introduce herself, again. M'lords, of the Council who so wisely lead this nation... She is called Twenty Four, named by the temple priestess so recently executed."

Toofy flipped which leg was over the other, keeping them crossed. Giving them a tiny taste of that temple association that all of them loved so much. "Her friend, over there, is the Heir of Irrlichdan. Meerakeilian, acknowledged Queen of Dragonkind, and... Well, the one who feasted on the flesh of Lord Westcolm, quite recently. He made himself a threat to me. So... Meerakeilian ate him."

She chuckled softly as they looked around, "Yes. This neko does intend to confess to a long string of crimes. You will find that both Lord Castelles are now dead. Whilst she did not participate directly, she did arrange for it. Lord Han is also conspicuously absent. Toofy cannot say she did anything to him, but she expects he is also dead. That your great emperor asked him a question that she will soon be asking all of you."

Twenty Four's ears flipped back and forth for a moment as she examined the room. All of them were paying an indecent amount of attention to her. Quite a few were still fixated on her legs, irritatingly enough. Fucking her way to the top was apparently another option she could have taken.

This was the gathered political force of the empire? No wonder it had begun to fail. No kingdom could be maintained by the sheer force of will of a singular individual. If she succeeded, she would need to train or replace every single one of these morons.

"The emperor attempted to have Twenty Four assassinated. Thrice, that she knows of." She continued with a light tone, "Meerakeilian was one of those who attempted to end her, and can testify to it. As she is also a queen, her diplomatic status with this empire will depend on how you treat her testimony."

Lord Vanhern bowed towards her, "Lady Twenty Four, whilst such a thing may come to pass, the city currently burns. Should we not skip the pleasantries?"

"Ah. Yes." She smiled knowingly at him, "She supposes she should get to the point. She has screwed you all over. You should probably hate her. Yet, there is one who is more a threat to all of you. As Toofy said, she didn't touch Lord Han."

She waited until the ministers became uncomfortable, until all that they could hear was the roar of flames and destruction outside. The cries of men dying so that they could ensure this stupid little discussion. As if they were above it all.

"We start with disease." She said firmly, "A plague besets this land. Slaves begin to starve. Soon, the citizens. All of you have received the complaints, all of you have been researching for ways to stop it, and yet the grain is now infected."

She saw them shifting uncomfortably, and she shrugged, "Toofy had nothing to do with that. She was still a temple girl when it began. It was a weapon, deployed to awaken the draug of the Golden Mountain. Would you agree that this seems the work of an enemy of this empire? Determined to cause an uprising?"

There was a tiny murmur of reluctant agreement.

"The plague had one purpose. To awaken the draug army of the Golden Mountain. Which is currently in this city, under their undead commander, the Princess Astadia." Toofy continued and gave a small smile, "Astadia... She's not exactly beneath her, but she is doing what the Twenty Four says. An ally, if an uncomfortable one. She can testify as to who awakened her, and she is of royal blood."

Vanhern, again intervened. "We can review that claim at a later time. Once peace has been re-established. Who is it that this elf will claim is responsible?"

"The God-Emperor of Mankind, of course." She laughed, "Who else has the capability of such a thing? Elatham is dead, the plague has not stopped."

"My mages tell me that the plague is not magical in nature." One of the other ministers interrupted, "You claim otherwise, beast?"

Meerakeilian turned slowly, growling deeply at the insult. Her tail thwacking angrily on the ground as she barely restrained herself from launching at the man and making him into an entree.

Toofy held up a hand, "You will do well not to insult me whilst I ravage your city... Human."

The man winced, looking at the dragon, "I see. This is why you didn't care if we kept the guards. They can't fight a queen."

"Toofy could kill you, herself, and the guards couldn't stop her." She sneered, "But, in answer to your question, you little shit, it isn't just magical. You should have asked an orc and saved the effort. The plague is demonic, derived from the magic that allowed the ascension of the Immortal of the Menes. Confirming that, took about five seconds."

She blew at her fringe in irritation, flashing a fang before she smoothed her hair back into position. "The Westcolm suspected. But he was the only one among you with the guts to ask so much as an enslaved orc. Because the rest of you see only beasts. Thus, we will be beasts to you. I freed the slaves. Because the only monsters in this world, are you and yours. Failed politicians, ruling by slaving magic, threats, and corruption. Allowing a demon-cursed king to unleash a plague upon your people, to push into a war you were never going to win, and summoning the undead as his personal bodyguards, just so he could try and become a god. A child could have seen it coming. You're useless. He's your enemy."

Toofy stood up, her red eyes glowing, "You failed to protect this empire. So I will. I am not here to have you vote to remove Kaden. You should have done that a long time ago. Instead you killed Efina for working against him. Your choice is between that gutless trash, and me. You don't have my respect. Not when you stand there, looking down at me as I kill your city! Fuck all of you gutless little shits! I will take your lands from you and give them to your slaves. I will take your wives from you, and give them to my temple, reborn. I burned the old one. I freed your slaves. I burn your skies. I broke your walls. And I... I am now going to go and kill your fucking emperor."

A royal guard stepped towards her and Toofy waved a hand tiredly, shredding his armour and shattering his ribs. The man hit the wall bleeding, but not quite dying. He had a chance, anyway.

She clenched her fists, "I ate the heart of a dark god. Stole his power. Because he dared to take something I cared about from me. That's what I did, because someone became a threat to me. The emperor is a threat to all of you, and you sat there and let him fuck you."

She curled up her lip and strode away from them.

She hadn't meant to say any of that. She really had meant to let them vote, but they had just stood there and thought about her pussy. She was just a sex object to them, even when she had two armies razing the godsdamned city.

Meerakeilian joined her, "Want eat them."

"Might let you." Toofy sneered.

"True?"

She rolled her eyes, "One enemy at a time! First, we put down the Immortal. Fuck if Toofy knows how she's going to. He's the one who killed Irrlichdan. Barely hurt, for it. Toofy has seen him naked. She saw his scars. Only one by dragonkind."

"I'm stronger than ancestor." Meerakeilian declared firmly, her scales flaring for a moment, "I be by side. I fight. I fight."

Toofy rolled her jaw, "She never wanted this to be a fight. She wanted to end this peacefully. Imprison him, maybe. Execute him, if she had to. But she never wanted a war. Gods impatient. Humans incompetent. Toofy is forced. And Toofy has to pay the price. Be the villain. No heroes in war. Only villains."

The salamander didn't say anything. It was unfair of Toofy to word it the way that she had, considering that the salamander had lived her entire life as a villain. Stronger than everyone, angry and snapping, because she had no other choice.

Hiding away as an artist, because she couldn't be who she was raised to be. Not that Toofy thought that Meerakeilian would have been happy as a lord's companion. Yet, it hadn't been a choice that the woman had made.

Toofy followed the scent of the emperor, stepping angrily as she moved towards her final goal... And her likely death.

Fighting someone who had been titled as both a demigod and the Immortal wasn't exactly a guarantee of anyone surviving anything. Despite having taken the power of a demon, she was nothing more than his equal at best.

Except she wasn't at her best.

She'd just given birth. She was exhausted, weak, and tired. She felt like she probably needed a little reconstructive surgery after what Artema had done with her claws on the way out. All that Toofy wanted to do was curl up in her master's arms and cry herself to sleep.